Art in Bloom at the Fitchburg Art Museum

Celebrating Creativity, Community, and a Blue Ribbon Win for One of Our Own

If you’ve spent any time at Lakeview, chances are you’ve met Jacquie.

She’s the one with the smile that somehow makes your whole day better. The one who can talk plants with you for five minutes or fifty and make both feel like time well spent. Around here, she wears a lot of hats. She helps run our perennial department, keeps our kids programs lively and growing, and just happens to be our very own Certified Pollinator Steward. And she brings that same energy and care into everything she does.

So when she told us she was entering Art in Bloom at the Fitchburg Art Museum again this year, we were all in.

Over the winter, it would come up here and there in conversation. Little ideas, bits of inspiration, that quiet excitement she gets when something creative is starting to take shape. This was her third year participating, but her first year doing it as part of the Lakeview crew, and we got a front row seat to the whole process.

As the event got closer, she and Michelle made the trip to the flower market to track down just the right materials. And if you’ve ever watched Jacquie design, you know it’s not just arranging flowers. It’s instinct. It’s balance. It’s this natural, effortless way of bringing something to life that feels both thoughtful and completely unforced.

And honestly, that’s just Jacquie.

The way she builds a display. The way she helps a customer figure out the right plant. The way she gets kids excited about digging in the dirt. It all comes from the same place.

So yes, when her piece took home the Blue Ribbon, we were thrilled for her.

But surprised? Not even a little.

We see that creativity every day. We see the care, the attention, and the genuine love she has for what she does. Art in Bloom just gave it a stage for a weekend.

So next time you see Jacquie, make sure to congratulate her. The competition was fierce and the entries were incredible, which makes that blue ribbon even more special.